TOP Westmeath Youth player James Morris said he was proud of how their team performed as they made it all the way to the final of the INDO Youth Inter Counties championships.
James and his team-mates fell at the final hurdle to a brilliant Carlow team, but he said getting that far was a great achievement for Westmeath.
He praised the team for showing their best side in the crunch knockout stages after what he described as a difficult first day in the group stages.
The Westmeath A team, under the watchful eye of manager Tommy Dolan and made up of James, John Morris, Cian Gilchrist, Conal Farrell, TJ Fallon and Oisin Gilchrist, finished second to Cork B in their group after picking up 12 points from their four games.
They then went on a brilliant run in the knockouts on Sunday, beating Kilkenny, Cork A and Tipperary A to advance to the semi-finals against Waterford A.
That match against Waterford proved to be one of the games of the tournament as Westmeath edged it 3-2 in the very last leg with a sensational 154 checkout from Oisin Gilchrist.
That put Westmeath into the final, and despite James winning the opening match, they fell to a 3-1 defeat to Carlow.
James told Darts In Ireland: "I'm delighted with how the weekend went as our team performed really well, especially in the knockout stages.
"We weren't at our best in the group games on Saturday, that was tough, and if you'd told us then that we would be in the final on Sunday, we'd have been delighted with that."
James (17), who is into his final year playing as a Youth and who has won the ranked INDO National Singles title and made it to the final of the WDF Irish Open, said he was most impressed with how the new members of the Westmeath team handled themselves.
He added: "For some of the lads it was their first time playing at the Inter Counties and they really stepped up so that is a great sign for Westmeath darts.
"It was very special for me to make the final in my last year playing as a Youth, and in my four years I've made two All Ireland finals so I'm very happy with that record."
Meanwhile James made it to the last 16 of the Boys Inter Counties singles on Friday night and remains very much in contention to make the Irish team for the WDF Europe Cup this year.
He currently sits fifth in the INDO rankings table - with the top four making the Irish team - with two events to go next month.
James said: "I represented Ireland at the JDC World Championships last year so to make it onto the Ireland team for a big WDF event like the Europe Cup would be something special too."
Meanwhile, James said he has been enjoying testing himself against some of the best players in the country at weekly ADC events.
He said the opportunity to qualify for the Modus Super Series through the ADC Ireland regional qualifiers is a big goal over the upcoming years for him.
He said: "I would like to get over to the UK and play in more big events like the PDC Development Tour and maybe Q school eventually and with the help of my sponsors I hope that can happen.
"But I'm really enjoying playing against the likes of Aidan O'Hara and Dylan Dowling at the ADCs every week.
"It is fantastic that Irish players have the opportunity to qualify for the Modus Super Series through that and those that do have done very well at it too.
"To qualify for Modus some day would be a big dream for me."
FOR CUSTOM MADE SPORTS SHIRTS, CHECK OUT SHIRTS4U. JUST CLICK ON THE LOGO BELOW:
Add comment
Comments